Notes about Opening Day

Not by me, of course, since I can't remember the last time I saw an Opening Day game.

Jeff Conine, who officially retired as a Marlin on Friday after signing a one-day contract, was honored with a pre-game video montage of his career. He also was given a framed replica of his jersey from the 2003 World Series.

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The fans gave Conine a standing ovation and his pitch easily reached Fox, in the air.

No real big surprise there.  Actually I would've been shocked if they didn't.

While the Marlins payroll may not be in line with most of the other 29 teams, it sounds like the stadium concessions have kept pace.

The concession stands at Dolphin Stadium are all set up for quick credit-card swiping. That's because buying peanuts and Cracker Jack is more than a ballpark whim these days. It's a major financial decision.

A bowl of nachos costs $8. A bucket of popcorn costs $5. Get up into the entree range and you're talking $9 for fish and chips or $12 for a hand-carved turkey sandwich.

Ketchup and mustard are free, and so are napkins, so stop whining.

For the discriminating baseball fan there are flat-screen television monitors hanging just about everywhere in the concourse-level food courts.

I do hope the Marlins adopt the idea having television monitors in the all the food courts when/if the new stadium is built.  Back, a gazillion years ago when I was, for all intents and purposes, a season ticket holder of the Astros there were television monitors in all the food courts around the Astrodome.  Let's say you were playing the drinking game of a beer per inning, not me, of course, and one had to go rest rooms during the inning because nature called.  If on your way to the facilities you heard a roar from the crowd you could always ask the people at food court what just happened and assuming you could still speak with enough diction that they understood your question the folks at food court could answer since they were following the game on the monitors.  Or so I've been told.

Finally, it sounds like our base coaches need to invest in some auxiliary equipment.

Coaches wore helmets on the field during a regular-season game for the first time. The problem is, they are not required by MLB to wear protective cups. Marlins third-base coach Bo Porter fielded a one-hopper in the fourth inning in a spot that had to hurt.

Something gives me the idea that MLB won't have to make that a policy since it will probably be adopted by the base coaches on their own.